


Gyro Swears an Oath

by JamieTayl



Series: Monsters and Mana [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Monsters & Mana (Voltron), shance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:15:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25992766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamieTayl/pseuds/JamieTayl
Summary: Gyro swears an oath.*takes place after Pike finds some kittens and before Pike gets jealous, but those do not need to be read to understand
Relationships: Lance/Shiro (Voltron)
Series: Monsters and Mana [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881637
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	Gyro Swears an Oath

Pike loved having a cow in their party. Every day he got fresh warm milk, and his kittens got fed. Keith, though, took some getting used to. Gyro used to have long conversations with Pike but now he was spending all his time with Keith. Gyro used to catch fish for Pike whenever they came across a body of water, but now Gyro was so focused on Keith that he wasn’t catching any fish anymore. The thought made Pike’s stomach grumble. He could catch his own fish, it was just nice to have someone do it for him. His party sat around a campfire at dusk. Block stirred a pot of stew over it. Gyro laughed at something Keith whispered in his ear. Pike’s daughters sat on Gyro’s lap. Pike walked away from his party and further into the forest. He walked for fifteen minutes, and then caught himself a squirrel and ate it raw. Pike could appreciate a cooked squirrel with a variety of spices, but he didn’t feel like asking Block to prepare it for him. Pike spat fur out of his mouth. Bleh. He should have taken that off. Pikes ear twitched. He heard footsteps. Pike scaled a tree and crouched on a branch high above. He saw two short people in bulky armor. Pike leaped lightly from branch to branch all the way back to the campsite. His party was below, talking and laughing without a care in the world. Pike hopped down the tree as fast as he could and ran to his friends.

“Guys, two people are coming this way,” he warned them. 

“Are they hostile?” Meklevar asked.

Pike shrugged. “Two people, bulky armor. I don’t know if they’re hostile or not.”

“Keep your guard up, everyone,” Gyro said.

Pike didn’t think Keith needed that reminder. He was in a defensive stance and holding his dagger, looking in the direction Pike came from. They all waited silently for a while. The two people walked into their clearing. The shadow of the tree obscured their faces. 

“Pidge, is that you,” the shorter person asked. They stepped out of the shadow. Lance was shocked to see their face was almost identical to Meklevar. 

“Matt!,” Meklevar screamed. She ran full speed and leaped into his arms. They toppled onto the forest floor. 

“I missed you, Meklevar,” the other person said. Lance looked at him. He had a wrinkly face and glasses on his nose. 

“Dad!”. Meklevar picked herself up and squeezed her dad into a hug. Pike knew Meklevar had been searching all over for her family. They disappeared on a quest two years ago and never returned. Her mother thought it was too dangerous for Meklevar to go searching for them, but she went anyway. Her mother didn’t want to search herself, since that would mean leaving her daughter behind.

“How did you find me?”.

“Your tracking crystal, silly. Did you forget about it,” Matt said. Meklevar touched the green stone on a cord around her neck. 

“I didn’t forget, I just didn’t know if you still had it,” Meklevar said. 

When everyone had calmed down, they all sat around the campfire again. 

“I’m Simbir, Sam for short,” the wrinkly man said,” and this is my son Mathias.”

“Dad, I told you not to call me that,” Matt said. Everyone introduced themselves. 

“These are my daughter’s Dream of Days and Tree Blossom,” Pike said, pointing to the kittens on Gyro’s lap. Dream had black stripes all across her body, and Blossom only had two above her eyes. 

“We call them Dream and Blossom for short,” Block said. It was true, they said his kits formal names were too long. Meklevar insisted on calling them Boop and Meep. Pike thought such beings deserved to have formal and shortened names as any Tabaxi had, but he supposed a dwarf wouldn’t understand that. His party didn’t even know Pike’s formal name. It wasn’t like he was about to tell them. They didn’t care enough to ask. The name Pike was more accepted by townsfolk than any Tabaxi name would be. 

“You have fur on your chin,” Keith said. Pike rubbed his chin to get it off. Pike stayed silent and watched Meklevar’s family eat the soup. Pike curled his tail onto his lap. Pike was letting Block take care of feeding his kits. Pike was hesitant to trust their care to anyway else at first, but he trusted Block and knew that Block was knowledgeable about food. His kits were bigger now, almost big enough to start eating meat. Pike was excited to teach them to hunt. Sam and Matt regaled them with tales of their adventures. Pike saw a motion out of the corner of his eye. He looked and saw Keith walking into the forest. Gyro called after Keith but he just walked faster. Pike wondered what was up with him. Gyro walked over to Pike and put his kits on his lap. The kits, now awake, climbed off of him and inspected the pine needles on the ground. Gyro ran after Keith. Pike gently picked up both kits, one with his hands and one with his mouth. Dream didn’t look happy to be carried around by the scruff of her neck. Pike put them down next to Block and then ran after Gyro. When he was in sight of them, Pike climbed a tree and looked down. He wasn’t spying, per se, just watching them without their knowledge. He didn’t want to talk to them right now. 

“I don’t want to be around more people, Takashi!” Keith spat. What was that name Keith was calling him? It must be a nickname. 

“Keith, you know Sam and Pidge. What’s wrong,” Gyro said. That was Gyro, endlessly patient and understanding.

“There’s a chance they could slip up and tell people! You know that can’t happen.” Keith’s face was red. 

“You know they wouldn’t do that. Besides, this party would accept you. I mean, Pike is Tabaxi, and the party accepts him, don’t they?”. 

Pike flinched at his name. Wow, he didn’t realize his species was so hard for Gyro to accept, Pike thought sarcastically. 

“That’s different! They’ve known him for years, and besides, no one’s scared of Tabaxi.”

Okay, now Pike was insulted. His people were mighty hunters and warriors. It was true his people were often taken advantage of, but that did not mean no one feared them. 

“Keith, I met him more recently than everyone else, and I accepted him, didn’t I?’. 

“Yeah, Gyro, you’re a paladin. You accept everyone how they are. Can you just not tell them please?”. Keith’s voice broke on ‘please’. 

So Keith had a secret that was apparently worse than being Tabaxi. Well, being Tabaxi wasn’t bad, so maybe whatever it was was fine. Keith was just dramatic. 

“Keith, I would never tell anyone without permission, okay? It’s up to you.” 

Keith nodded. Pike was getting more uncomfortable the longer they looked at each other. 

Finally, they broke eye contact and walked back towards the group. He hoped his party didn’t rat Pike out for following them. No one liked a rat. Mmm, a rat would be nice right about now. If only he had some hot sauce. Pike caught a rabbit, just so he had a reason for being in the forest, and then he circled around the campsite to the opposite side he entered. He strolled out casually with the rabbit in his mouth. He handed the rabbit to Block. Block looked delighted. He used a freezing charm to keep the rabbit fresh until tomorrow. Pike licked his lips. That would be good. 

“Gross,” Keith commented. Pike glared at him. 

“Pray tell, what’s gross,” Pike said. 

“You have blood all over your mouth.” 

Pike lashed his tail. Here he was, providing food for the party, and Keith was being an ungrateful brat. 

“Keith, don’t be rude. That’s going to be great for lunch tomorrow,” Block scolded Keith. Keith looked like he had been sucking on a lemon. 

“But his mouth was on it! I don’t want that in my mouth, who knows what else he does with it.”

Oh, wow. What an ass. Pike didn’t know exactly what Keith was referring to, but he was either being rude about Pike’s species somehow or about his sexual habits. Either way, Pike was going to give Keith a piece of his mind. 

“That’s enough, Keith!” Gyro said. Keith looked down at his lap. 

“Don’t talk about Pike like that. He’s spending his time getting food for us. We could all spend hours using traps and chasing prey on foot, but Pike gets us food easily every day. Apologize.”

Keith’s eyes were watering. Everyone else probably couldn’t see that with their bad vision. Pike pushed away the feeling of pity. Keith deserved to get yelled at. 

“Sorry, Pike,” Keith said. 

“Mmhmm.” Pike scooped up his kits and brought them into Block’s tent. Bobcats didn't sleep in trees. They would start climbing at some point, though. For now, Pike didn’t want to risk them falling. He knew they would be fine, but he didn’t want to see his babies get hurt. Pike ran at the nearest tree and propelled himself upwards. 

“Wow, look how fast he is,” Matt said. Pike knew he wasn’t intended to hear that. He was fast, it was true. Pike smirked. There were SOME things he was good at. Pike found a thick branch with a coating of soft moss and curled up on it. He longed for the open-air houses of his homeland. Pike drew his cloak around himself. He missed curling up beside his family most of all. He always got to be in the middle, since he had the least fur. Pike pretended he could feel his mother stroking his ears and hear her whispering stories to him when everyone else was already asleep. Pike’s favorite story was about how his parents met. Pike and his sister were the only kits of Pike’s father, but his mother got a new mate after his father passed away shortly after Pike was born. Pike loved his family dearly, but he never really fit in, except with his sister. His other siblings couldn’t play as roughly with him, because he didn’t have fur covering his skin. He was proud to be a part of his clan, and no one doubted his place there. Except himself. His father must have been a strange man, to abandon a human life to live with the Tabaxi in the trees. Pike wanted to know more about humans. He was excited when he met Meklevar. He had never met a dwarf before. At first, he thought she was a small human, but Block corrected him. He thought Valayun was a human too, at first, and was surprised to find out that she was actually an elf. He didn’t know humans couldn’t have pointed ears. He really had no clue how the human world worked at all. Pike drifted off to sleep with thoughts of his mother’s warm fur. 

Pike awoke and watched the sunrise. He usually watched it with Gyro. When he heard the others packing up, Pike climbed down the tree and went over to them. 

“I’m going to travel home to my mom,” Meklevar announced. 

Pike had expected that. 

“It would be an honor to accompany you, should the rest decide to do so,” Valayun said.

He could keep going to the next big town and fulfill requests to earn some money, or he could go with Meklevar and meet her mother. He didn’t really need money. He had everything he needed. 

“I’ll go, of course. I haven't seen you guys in forever,” Gyro said. 

“I’m obviously going with you,” Block said. 

Pike decided he would go. He hoped there were trees near Meklevar’s house. He hated being inside buildings. Everyone looked at Keith.

“What,” Keith said defensively.

“Are you going or not,” Pike said. 

“Yeah, I’m going.” 

The party didn’t have any big plans before this. They were just going to go look for easy tasks to make money. They set off into the forest. A week into their journey, everyone but Pike got sick of eating meat and foraged plants. They had a hankering for tavern food. Pike flipped up the hood of his cloak and reluctantly followed them into the village. His tail was stuffed uncomfortably into his pants. People might have caught a glimpse of it with his cloak moving in the wind. Keith looked at him strangely but didn’t say anything. Valayun put the kits in her purse. The opening was wide enough that they could breathe but not poke their heads out. There were only a few trees in this village, and they were all short. The sun beat down. Pike sweat under his cloak. Everyone else wore minimal clothing. Pike appreciated Gyro’s bare arms. Gyro knew someone in the village, so they left the cow and their belongings with her. They entered a tavern and approached the bar. Pike hung back behind the others. They all asked for what they wanted. 

“What’ll you be having,” the barkeep asked. She peered under his hood. Pike liked her head fur, it was curly and light yellow in color. He had never seen head fur like that. Pike’s head fur was brown and curly, which endlessly fascinated his siblings. 

“How much for a glass of milk?”.

Pike heard someone scoff. He wasn’t surprised when he looked and saw Keith. 

“We have a cow. Why don’t you get something else?”.

“Only if you buy it for me,” Pike joked.

“Okay.” Keith handed him a few coins. Pike looked at him in disbelief.

“Uh, do you have fish?”.

“No. We have pork, beef, and chicken.”

Oooh, chicken. Pike ordered chicken and then sat down with the others. Meklevar was downing a tankard of ale. Pike had still never tried alcohol. He didn’t want to get drunk. He might fall out of a tree and then he would never live it down. Pike decided he wanted to try apple juice, so he walked over towards the bar. He felt a tugging sensation and then he was forced to stand still. His hood fell down. Someone had stepped on his cloak. 

“Oh, oops- wait a minute.” Pike flipped up his hood quickly and turned to look. He saw a tall human man with dark head fur and eyes. He had a scar on his neck. The man held a cloak by his side, which Pike noted was the pelt of a bobcat. Pike shivered. 

“You’re one of those cat people, aren’t ye?” The man said. He sneered. It wasn’t a question. Pike backed away slowly. He should have put his headband over his ears as well. 

“You know, the mayor would pay a pretty penny to have you. I wouldn’t mind keeping you for myself, though,” the man said, walking towards Pike the same speed he was backing away. 

Pike was relieved when Gyro stepped in front of him. He pressed himself against Gyro’s back and peeked out to the side to see. 

“Is there a problem here?” Gyro said. The man’s sneer turned into a simpering smile.

“Not at all. I was just saying I would like to buy this lovely boy a drink.” 

Pike would rather die of thirst. 

“He’s not interested,” Gyro said. 

“How would you know?”. Pike saw the man clench his fists. His hands were leathery. 

“He’s mine,” Gyro said in a deep, threatening voice. 

Oooh, that made Pike feel things. 

“Oh, my bad. Sorry,” he said, not looking sorry at all. He walked away and sat down in a booth. He continued to stare in Pike’s direction. Pike pressed his face into Gyro’s back. 

“Are you alright, Pike? Did he hurt you?”, Gyro asked. His voice was so soft and gentle, not at all like before. Pike didn’t really feel like talking right now, so he stayed silent. Gyro gently took Pike’s hand off his shirt and turned around. He pulled Pike into a hug. 

“What happened?”. That was Keith’s voice. Pike snuggled into Gyro’s warmth. This was probably inappropriate. In Pike’s experience, humans didn’t touch that much. Gyro slowly moved his hand up and down Pike’s back. Wow, he really liked that. 

“Some guy was being a creep. Wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Gyro explained. 

That wasn’t exactly what happened. The way he was talking, Pike was sure that man wanted to capture him and sell him. It was illegal to keep Tabaxi captive, but no one enforced it. They left the tavern soon after that. Everyone brought their food with them. At least the chicken was good. He would have to try apple juice another time. Apples were special to Pike. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day he met Gyro, Pike was on a quest. It was the first time he ever went to a human village and saw humans at all. He didn’t need money, strictly speaking, but he saw something shiny and he wanted to buy it. Pike entered the cave where the beast dwelled. Pike thought he was a mighty hunter who could handle anything, but he had no idea how tough it would be. The quest paper said it was a boar, which it did appear to be until it opened its mouth. It had many tongues, all of which were snakes. Pike fought with all he had, biting and clawing at the beast, but he slowly ran out of energy. It proved too difficult to fight the boar and dodge the snakes at the same time. Pike was saved when Gyro entered the cave. He saw Pike’s situation and rushed to his rescue. Gyro slew the boar with his sword. 

“You can keep the reward money,” Pike said.

“What reward money?” Gyro replied. It turned out Gyro was only there to avenge his brother. Gyro tried to make Pike take all the reward money, but he refused. They ended up splitting it.

“Are you hungry?” Gyro rummaged through his bag. “All I have is this apple.”

Pike had never eaten an apple in his life, nor seen one. Gyro handed it to Pike. Pike bit into it slowly and chewed. He liked how crunchy it was. He had eaten mangos and guava all his life, and he liked those, but these might be even better. It was then that Pike realized that his hood wasn’t up, and his tail was untucked. He took them out after he left the village. Pike pointed to his ears. 

“I’m Tabaxi.”

Gyro gave him a warm smile. 

“I’ve never heard of that before. Can you tell me about it?”.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pike felt better once they left the village. His kits meowed complaints at Valayun for being cramped in her purse. She set them on the ground and they raced over to Pike. Pike kissed the top of their heads. 

“You were good girls today, weren't you? You were quiet the whole time we were there. Good job.”

His kits rubbed against his ankles. Pike hoped they didn’t get too comfortable with humans. He didn’t want them thinking humans outside of their party were friendly. The others were disappointed they weren't staying overnight in the village. They were looking forward to “a comfy bed”. Pike thought beds were comfy, but he wouldn’t sleep in one only because they were kept inside. If he could bring a bed up a tree, he would. Perhaps he could convince his mom to do that. A really big bed for the whole family. Pike wondered how big his siblings were, now. Probably taller than him. He hoped at least his sister was still the same size. The party traveled in the direction of Meklevar’s home. 

“Are you okay?” Gyro asked. 

Pike shrugged. 

“Wanna talk about it?”. 

“You know how Tabaxi are often victims of human trafficking? That guy was threatening to capture me.” 

Gyro stopped walking mid-step. He glowered at Pike. Pike knew Gyro wasn’t mad at him, but it was still scary. 

“Excuse me, can you repeat that?”. 

“Um. He wanted to capture me.” Pike’s ears flattened against his head.

Gyro walked briskly in the direction of the village. 

“Hey, wait, Gyro! Come back!,” Pike called after him. The others turned around. Pike quickly told them what just happened. Block looked ready to kill. 

“Guys, we can’t prove that guy said that, Gyro’s just going to end up in jail,” Pike said. He was having trouble breathing. He didn’t want Gyro to get a criminal record. Keith sped past him. That’s right, all they had to do was stop Gyro. Pike raced after Keith. He easily overtook him. Just before Gyro reached the edge of the forest, Pike leaped onto his back. 

“Ouch! What on Earth-” Gyro turned his head and saw Pike on his back. 

“I don’t want you to go to jail because of me,” Pike said. 

“Okay, fine, but please stop digging your claws into me.”

Oops. Pike retracted his claws and jumped down. Gyro stretched. 

“I’ll report him,” Gyro said.

“That won’t work. We have no proof he said that. That will just let more people know a Tabaxi was in the village, which means more danger,” Pike explained. 

“Excuse me one moment,” Gyro said. He walked into the forest until the trees obscured him. Pike heard a cracking sound and then a big thump. Pike ran full speed in that direction. Keith was just behind him. They found Gyro standing next to a stump and a tree on the ground. The scent of freshly broken wood permeated the area. This wasn’t like Gyro at all. 

“Did you really just break down a tree with just your fist,” Keith said.

Pike would have to agree. Gyro stared blankly at Pike. 

“He threatened you with something unspeakable,” Gyro said.

“I’m safe, Gyro. Thank you for standing up for me.” 

Pike saw Gyro’s spirit return in his eyes. Gyro kneeled on the ground in front of Pike. It kind of looked like he was going to propose. 

“I swear by the earth below and the sky above that I will not allow harm to come to you.”

Pike covered his mouth with his hand in shock. Keith gasped. Gyro swore an oath. As a paladin, an oath was a solemn vow that could not be broken. Gyro stood. He stared intensely into Pike’s eyes. Gyro took both of Pike's hands in his. 

“I will protect you,” Gyro said. Pike nodded. He believed him. Pike was sure his face must be bright red. He snuck a glance at Keith. He was surprised to see a smile on Keith’s face. He looked the most relaxed Pike had ever seen him. Gyro pulled Pike into a hug. For the second time that day, Pike snuggled into a hug with Gyro. He was very comfy. If only Gyro could climb trees, Pike could sleep on top of him. 

“We should get back to the others soon,” Gyro mumbled. Pike nuzzled his chest. He really would make a great bed. Maybe Gyro could visit his family someday, and they could all sleep together.


End file.
